We had a BIG game coming up Saturday against Quartz Hill and a Sunday double-header on the final day of the season against San Fernando. For the most part, our pitchers were rested. I had to decide who I was going to throw against Quartz Hill. Big Breck had just thrown a great game for us on Wednesday night in Palmdale, and I felt he’d be ready to throw one of the games in the double-header coming up on Sunday.
Both Chili and BullOxen were well rested. One good thing about the ’91 team is that the starters on our pitching staff were getting the ball like ONCE a week. That helped. And I had three guys that I wouldn’t hesitate to throw against anyone. Big Breck had beat Quartz Hill earlier in the season but he had just thrown.
The way the mathematics worked was as follows: Even if Quartz Hill beat us we could still win the Division Title if we swept San Fernando on Sunday. But I didn’t want it to come down to that. That’s why this Quartz Hill game was so huge. The other problem we faced was that all three games were going to be on the road….and I shuddered when I thought about the condition of the field at San Fernando High. If you would like to get a better description of what that field was like read my earlier Post “Landmines, Potholes and Three Sheets of Paper.”
In addition, we had ruined Quartz Hills’ day now TWICE. And we weren’t hesitant to remind them that “Their BARN’s were on Fire!!” There was definitely some bad blood between us. They had a good ballclub and I also knew how hard it was to beat a good team THREE times in a row, even if one of the wins was a year ago! So not only were we going to have to beat them for the third straight time….we were going to have to do it at their yard. But we had our pitchers lined up and rested and I decided to go with Chili.
We had also turned around our attendance problem that we faced mid-season. While we weren’t bringing eighteen guys to the field every game, we usually had twelve or thirteen. Really, we only had an attendance problem ONE GAME that whole summer. Unfortunately, it was against Chatsworth. Apart from that one game, we actually did a pretty good job of having our horses there.
Hank, Weap, General and I were pretty upbeat about rattling off five-in-a-row. It was clutch.
I can say this. We were ready for these last three games. There was nothing for me to whine about regarding certain players not being there. Or our pitchers being out of gas…. as was the case in 1990.
And I can also say this: Our guys wanted it. I really believed we were going to sneak through the back door and win the Division Title. We had been chasing San Fernando all season long in the standings. We had never been in sole possession of first place the whole year. It would have been a great story to steal it from them the last weekend of the season.
We were bringin’ it in! The runway was in sight. Plenty of visibility. No wind. I liked our chances, even on the road. All we had to do is land that plane!!!!
verdugo288 